Maggie’s attend a charity gala reception at the Scottish Parliament hosted by the People’s Postcode Lottery
The reception recognised the great work of the People’s Postcode Lottery towards the charitable sector in Scotland. Maggie’s CEO Laura Lee accepted a cheque for £553,324 from the People’s Postcode Lottery’s Country Director, Annemiek Hoogenboom – this is the total raised in 2009 by People’s Postcode Lottery for Maggie’s Centres across Scotland.
The event gathered together charity representatives and MSPs as the People’s Postcode Lottery awarded their charity partners with a cheque for £2,906,296 – the total amount raised for charities in Scotland in 2009 by the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Patricia Ferguson MSP welcomed the guests to the garden lobby of the Scottish Parliament, where charity partners Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres were given £553,324; CHILDREN 1ST received a cheque for £496,769; Missing People (In Scotland) received £380,173 and Scottish Wildlife Trust were presented with a cheque for £441,444. Newly created charity People’s Postcode Trust were given £1,034,586, to allow the trust to continue funding charities and projects, in addition to the 142 it has already funded in Scotland. In total, the People’s Postcode Lottery has awarded over £4 million to charities and community initiatives in Scotland, since its launch in January 2008.
The event attracted over one third of all Scottish Parliament MSPs, with the politicians mingling with the charities to learn about the work they do and the great monetary support they receive from the charity lottery.
Maggie’s representatives manned a stand and informed a number of MSPs about the inaugural Love Maggie’s Day, encouraging many to visit their local Centre on the day – 26 March.
One MSP who was particularly taken by Love Maggie’s Day was Marilyn Livingstone, who passed a motion about the fundraising and awareness day in the Parliament’s business bulletin on Tuesday, 9 February.
*S3M-5696 Marilyn Livingstone: Love Maggie’s Day - That the Parliament supports the first ever Love Maggie’s Day on 26 March 2010; welcomes the fact that past, present and future fundraisers are being encouraged to do an activity that they love or for someone they love in the lead up to the event; notes that the day will be celebrated in each region across Scotland and that supporters will meet at Maggie’s centres and form a chain to hug the building; considers Love Maggie’s Day to be an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the support that Maggie’s offers people living with, through and beyond cancer and how important fundraising is to these services; recognises that the Maggie’s Centre in Fife provides great comfort and hope to the people of Fife and their families who are affected by cancer, and congratulates the staff in the Maggie’s Centre in Kirkcaldy for the quality of care and services provided.